Tyler F's Story

My experiences at Earthcamp will lead me to make signifcant changes in my lifestyle and and to try and affect those around me. One of the things I experienced at Earthcamp that will change my lifestyle was the landfill. I was shocked to see so much trash in one place, then they told us that was for only one day ! We need to reduce trash or one day we will run out of room to put it.

One easy way to reduce trash is to not get it in the first place. Don't be afraid to say no to the paper on your ice cream cone, the plastic bags at the grocer or to reuse pizza boxes. We tried this at Earthcamp and even though the pizza guy gave us a strange look, he did what we asked (the customer is always right!). People may not be environmentally friendly but they can change. Another way to reduce trash is to recycle. Just follow the three R’s ; reduce, reuse, recycle every chance you get. I know that if everyone chips in we can live in a trash reduced world.

One of my favorite experiances during Earthcamp was going to the estero. An estero or esturary is a natural river that flows into the ocean. Depending on whether it is positve or negitive effects the kind of water in the river. Either salt water or fresh water changes depending on high or low tide. Estuaries have a very rare and special ecosystem that supports many special plants and animals. There were blue crabs, fiddler crabs, and we even saw a crane ! There were also different types of plants called mangroves. There were red mangroves, white mangroves, green mangroves, and black mangroves. When we were done with the estuary we walked to the ocean. We rode the current all the way back to the estuary, kind of like a backward rollor coaster. It was really fun ! Jesus even talked with a fish ! ( see jesus fish video). All in all the estuary was very cool.